PRay TeLL, Dr. Hash

<p>Even with the Top 1% paying almost half the Income taxes collected, wealth concentration is still increasing; they now own more of the country's wealth than in the past 50 years. Increasing wealth disparity is a side-effect of Capitalism, and to be expected, and if it's not alleviated through some kind of redistribution, an aristocracy forms. A lot of people have no problem with an emergi...

<p>Most people hate taxes because they dislike being forced into giving up money, even though they know the life they live everyday was made possible through taxes, but because the exchange is involuntary, they despise it. Even though the old arguments used to promote the idea of taxes are good, there is a fatal flaw everybody gets but no one can quite articulate; taxes seem rigged. The Left...

<p>One of the reasons taxes are so vehemently disliked is because they are misunderstood. People think it's a kind of market transaction: services given for payment received. Taxpayers judge taxes in that light and find the exchange wanting, not comprehending that the primary purpose taxes serve is to redistribute wealth. It's a mathematically certainty that wealth will concentrate; the natu...

<p>Free advice has the advantage that it's free, so let's review:</p> <ol> <li> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Ideology hinges on the the question of from whom to who?</p> </li> <li> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Redistributing opportunity from those who horde it increases the liberty of everyone.</p> </li> <...

<p>When thinking about your future, listen to old people on how to get the most out of life because they've already had one, plus the rules are rather simple:</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">If you're not married, focus on getting so because your spouse's career may determine where you will live. Then buy a cheap house near where you work. Then have kids as soon as p...

<p>Up until now, property has always been a good investment for special people who can deal with it; however, buying a house is still the best investment any family can make. There's the increase in equity as prices go up, special tax advantages, and buying is usually cheaper than renting. Pride and comfort in owning your own home also has significant personal value. Home ownership is one of...

<p>One of the main investment refrains of the Baby-Boomer generation was to invest in property. “There's never going to be any more of it,” went the Pop pseudo-investing advice, and a lot of that generation did very well with the concept. However, in this new world order, where economic collapse is on the menu, is property still the go-to investment vehicle? To answer this question, we've go...

<p>Retirement is a modern concept, part of liberalism; the idea that some portion of society can stop working and rely on the productivity of younger members to support them. Though the very concept is mathematically problematic, it's the expectation of everyone who lives in the Western world. Since retirees are the largest voting block, Social Security isn't going anywhere, though it will b...

<p>Productivity has no shelf life: it can’t be stored, but because money is often a proxy for productivity, there is the misconception that pensions can be saved for, so people draw the erroneous conclusion that if they have money, they can retire in their old age. That assumption is easily refuted because it’s not about how much money you have, every retiree could have a billion dollars sav...

<p>America's population is still growing, thanks to immigrants, legal and otherwise, but that increase has been slowly declining; and there's an actual decrease in core White population. Some economists are worried this will lead to a lack of tax revenues, and deflation due to slow consumption, but if anything, due to generous welfare and retirement benefits, consumption is going up. The bas...

<p>Most people do not recognize the connection between opportunity and liberty: The Left doesn't want personal liberty, individual autonomy, to exist because that would conflict with their collectivistic goals, and The Right doesn't want opportunity to be part of the liberty equation because that would imply the wants of other people matter. The fact is America's Jeffersonian liberty, where...

<p>Political ideologies mostly differentiate based on their concept of redistribution of wealth, and motive is important. Often envious people want wealth taken from some and given to others but that is not an acceptable reason. On the other hand, liberty-minded people recognize if wealth is not redistributed, it concentrates opportunity, which is an important justification for wealth redist...

<p>Of all the issues that surround the concept of investment, let's review the few we've covered:</p> <ol> <li> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Money is imaginary, and economies are artificial.</p> </li> <li> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It's difficult to tell an Investor from acolyt...

<p>Hedge funds are the epitome of money gamesmanship; where the ultra-rich exploit artificial rules to increase their wealth. They use derivatives to make their $billions, yet create nothing and do nothing of value; they are simply parasites on society. It's been proven time & again that hedge funds are pure gambling, with lots of manipulation, and smidgens of insider trading. They are h...

<p>A Trust is a relatively simple document that says who gets your stuff when you die, similar to a Will without State involvement. Trusts exist in the vague legal world that most people think only The Rich enjoy but Middle Class people who own a house, a few investments, and some savings can get a lot of benefit too. Anybody with an estate more than $60K should have a Trust; that way you es...

<p>Derivatives, which are bets on the economy, are thousands of times larger than the real economy, so if the economy stumbles, magnify that by at least a 1000. For example, the number of foreclosures that triggered the 2008 financial crisis were minuscule compared to the economy, and could easily be absorbed, but the bets against them, the derivatives, were huge, and that's what caused the...

<p>Gold has a reverence no other commodity enjoys. People worried the current financial system will inevitably crash imagine they can save themselves by burying a can of gold coins in their backyard. This solution has never operated as imagined in past upheavals but it does make the hider feel better. However, if the choice is between buying insurance and burying double-eagles, gold makes mu...

<p>There's an economic principle that says the price of pork will deflate before it inflates. The logic goes: when farmers are losing money on pigs, they dump them onto the market, which lowers the price even further, forcing other pig farmers into the cycle too, collapsing the market. Soon the cheap pork runs out but there are no new pigs being raised so eventually the price of pork skyrock...

<p>Nothing shouts “scam” at the Stock Market like the PE ratio: basically, how many years it takes for a stock to pay for itself. For example, if the price of a share of stock is $50, and Earnings were $2 per share, the PE would be 25, which is the average PE ratio today, so 25 years for payoff; that's like buying a house. Normally when you invest in anything, you want a yield in the order o...

<p>Most people have a very positive feeling towards the word “investor,” especially folks who have signed up for The American Dream, thinking anyone can make it big if they just work hard and persevere. Unfortunately, “investing” is little more than an attempt to predict the future, and the people who prey upon those who think it's possible, like the loud, balding guys who insist the stocks...

<p>The imaginary nature of money tends to make the things it touches insubstantial; an economy that trades chickens can be measured in chicken shit, but imaginary money leaves little trace. There is the illusion of accounting, and people think in accounting terms, but with a slight-of-hand, trillions of dollars can be created and given away with almost no impact on anything else. If a stock...

<p>What are some of the issues of being an employee? Let's review:</p> <ol> <li> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Jobs naturally select who works them, there's no conspiracy involved.</p> </li> <li> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Employer's don't want employees anymore than employees wa...

<p>Managers are simply employees that trade increased income for increased resentment. Most people like to control their own destinies; if everyone could choose what they wanted to do, it's unlikely that taking orders from someone else would be their preferred occupation, so naturally subordinates will resent the authority of their manager. The more authority the manager represents, the grea...

<p>People often confuse Capitalism with a meritocracy, where highly competent people are highly rewarded, but there are 10,000 qualified applicants for every high-paying job, so luck plays by far the biggest role in who gets the big bucks; probably a fraternity brother from Yale has more impact on their success than merit. This was still okay, people understood nepotism, always wishing they...

<p>The recent Janus Supreme Court decision has disrupted American labor union practices for the better. As long as public employee unions could withhold dues from unwilling workers, all unions got a bad name. The fact is, private unions have experienced a steep decline in membership over the decades, partially because of the reputation gained by public unions, but that's over now. As public...